A bank-owned park that became the home of Occupy Pittsburgh is officially closed and fenced in, now that the few remaining protesters who were still living there are gone.

Occupy Pittsburgh held one final rally on the lawn outside the downtown Bank of New York Mellon building, then organized a march toward the direction of Market Square on Wednesday evening.

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Allegheny County Sheriff's deputies searched the area as a precaution, but found only leftover trash and rats among the tents.

"We could have done things like the other Occupy (movements) have done and just left it a huge mess, but we've taken a majority of the tents down," said protester Matt Wheeler.

BNY Mellon spokesman Ron Gruendl told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/waaCHu ) that the bank is planning for repairs to the park space, known as Mellon Green.

Deputies Give Eviction Order

Judge Christine Ward had ordered everyone from Occupy to be out of the park by Monday, but some lingered past the deadline, so she granted an emergency order instructing the sheriff to have everyone removed from the property.

Deputies walked through the area on Tuesday morning and posted signs that said "BNY Mellon Green Is Closed - No Trespassing."

The following is an excerpt from Ward's order: "It is hereby ordered that the sheriff of Allegheny County shall promptly enforce this court's February 2 order and shall remove all defendants remaining on BNY Mellon Green in violation of the court's February 2 order, and shall promptly remove, or facilitate and assist plaintiffs in removing, all tents, camping equipment and stored personal items from plaintiffs' property known as BNY Mellon Green, and shall return possession of the BNY Mellon Green property to plaintiffs, with all costs thereof to be paid by plaintiffs, and shall, in coordination with the city of Pittsburgh Police Department, enforce any violation of the February 2 order in the future."

Protesters have been living on the Mellon Green site at Sixth Avenue and Grant Street since October. The group said it will continue to operate, but it hasn't said how.

"Some are happy we're here. They're happy to talk to us, give their side of their opinion as well as listen to ours," said Don Carpenter, 31, of Mt. Lebanon. "And we have others that are very angry with our presence. They either don't understand why we're here or specifically don't want us here."

Downtown worker Bill Leuttner said Occupy Pittsburgh members have a right to protest, but also an obligation to take care of the property.

"If you're going to do that, you have to look after property, too, and this is no way to look after property. No way to live," said Leuttner. "It's going to take a lot of money and a lot of effort to make it nice again."